The Soldier: Final Odyssey Read online

  Halifax rubbed his jaw.

  Cade stood and went to the bed, where he picked up a gun, putting it into a shoulder rig under his jacket. Halifax noticed, and Cade noticed that Halifax did.

  “You know, Cade, I have a bad premonition about this place.”

  “Oh?” Cade asked.

  “I’m afraid we might have been spotted coming off the sting.”

  “That seems unlikely.”

  “Even so, I wouldn’t be surprised if, ah…a snatch team showed up and tried to kidnap us.”

  “Us or me?” asked Cade.

  “Maybe you,” Halifax said.

  “Why?” Cade asked in a reasonable tone. “Because you contacted the local Group Six agents and told them about me?”

  Halifax spread his hands. “Look. I thought you were going to cheat me, just take the money and run.”

  “No, you didn’t. You thought I was going to split it with you. Then, we’d go our separate ways, and you’d gain Director Titus’s good will by having sold me out. Now, though, you’re worried you won’t get your cut, because the station head here will keep the money after they kidnap me.”

  “Now, Cade, don’t get angry—”

  Halifax choked back his words because the barrel of Cade’s gun was sticking in his mouth. The Ultra had moved with fantastic speed and grace, although Halifax was having a hard time appreciating either.

  Cade used his free hand to hold the doctor’s head in place. Now he knew why the waiter had been watching him. A Group Six agent must have paid the man to observe. Halifax must have contacted the others a second time last night. That likely meant Halifax had been planning this ever since they left the Therduim System. That meant he could never trust the doctor to help him against Titus, as this was the second time Halifax had attempted to screw him.

  What, then, could he trust Halifax to do?

  Halifax made “Um, um,” noises.

  “Shut up,” Cade said. “That means keep sucking on the barrel. I don’t need it to kill you, but it feels good thinking about your head exploding.”

  Halifax’s eyes widened considerably.

  In disgust, Cade removed the gun, wiping the spit from the barrel on the covers of the bed. He holstered the gun and stared at a pale-faced Halifax.

  The doctor used fingers to test one of his teeth and then another. “One of them is loose,” he complained. “Okay, I get it,” he said fast, obviously seeing Cade scowl. “I did a bad thing. You’re mad. I really do understand.”

  “I should kill you already.”

  “Yeah, maybe, but you won’t get anything from that but a little satisfaction. Think about Raina before you off me.”

  Cade’s scowl intensified.

  “What did I say? Oh, I spoke your precious wife’s name. Is that it? I’m not dignified to say her name?”

  Cade grunted an angry affirmative.

  Halifax’s shoulders slumped as he stared at the hotel-room table. He kept staring. Maybe that helped the wheels turn in his sly brain. Suddenly, he looked up.

  Cade had been waiting for that. The gun-in-the-mouth move had been an act, as had his savage scowling. He wanted to convince the doctor to use his talents for him instead of against him. The only way to do that was to make the man believe his life was on the line.

  “I’ve been doing some soul searching just now,” Halifax began. “I did a lot of thinking during the journey here as well. I slept a lot, took extra treatments and stared up at the ceiling. It began to dawn on me. Maybe it did to you too.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The fact that the Descartes’ Intersplit engine went ka-blitz when it did. Think about it. Someone tampered with our Intersplit engine the last time we had it overhauled, and the engine died so we had to repair it in order to limp to the nearest star system, the Therduim System. What did the Therduim System hold? Diggers and mutants, but more importantly uncovered cyborg artifacts. The secret tech company had a game going to snatch those artifacts. Did the lurker stumble onto that, or was it part of a bigger plan?”

  “What’s your point?”

  “There’s a lot here,” Halifax said. “But my point is someone messed with our Intersplit engine before any of that. Now, how did that someone manage to be in a right spot at the right time to help the cyborgs in the lurker against us make sure we ended up in the Therduim System?”

  Cade thought about it. “That should be impossible.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But it happened,” Cade said.

  “You’re right on the money again,” Halifax said. “It happened. That means someone expected us to be there. I mean in the system where we had the engine overhauled and obviously tampered with.”

  Cade frowned. “How could the cyborgs have done that?”

  “Ah…” Halifax said, holding up an index finger. “Now, you’re seeing it. The most logical explanation is that someone tracked us to our former stops. They found evidence of our being at a place and kept looking for others. I mean, they must have found out we stopped at Durdane II and later Sestos V and later still at the Amklana space station and Trinor and the other places. Eventually, they might have deduced where we would go next from analyzing our former behavior and get to the next stop ahead of us.”

  “But they could only do that if they knew I was heading straight for Earth.”

  “Correct,” Halifax said.

  “Could cyborgs analyze our stopping points so accurately?”

  “The probability seems low,” Halifax said. “Either they got lucky, or they had more agents in play and spread an even wider net than I realize.”

  “So what’s your point?”

  “By leaving the Therduim System as we did, we shook the lurker,” Halifax said. “Does that mean the cyborgs will give up on us? What do you think?”

  “Given their past behavior, I don’t think so.”

  Halifax clapped his hands together. “There you have it. We now know what the cyborgs are going to do. They’re going to send agents to various places and see where we landed and then attempt to guess where we’re going to go after that.”

  Cade saw it then. “The cyborg agents will do this in order to develop a new picture of where we’re going to be so they can grab us.”

  “Yes. So, for instance, if you board a starliner that heads straight to Earth, we can guarantee that the lurker captain will learn of this and then act like a starmenter and stop and board the starliner at its next scheduled and known destination, even if that’s the edge of the Solar System.”

  Cade stared at Halifax, at the sly case officer who yet worked for Group Six. Maybe he understood why Director Titus had continued to use the conniving Canidae Vulpes. Halifax was slippery, but he was damn smart.

  Cade sat at the table.

  Halifax did too. “You’re impressed, huh? Maybe you can pay me my half for the analytical work I just did for you, and I’ll be on my way.”

  Cade looked up.

  “After, of course, I call off the Group Six attacks dogs here.”

  Cade kept staring at Halifax.

  “What now?”

  Cade did not speak because a plan, a wonderful, devious and audacious plan sprang full-blown into his mind. It was his Athena springing like an adult from the mind of Zeus. In that moment, he was sure he knew how to achieve everything he desired. It was going to take nerve, skill and plenty of luck to pull this off. But if he did—

  “Cade?”

  Cade blinked several times, noticing Halifax studying him with his head tilted to one side.

  “What it is?” Cade asked.

  “You blanked out,” Halifax said. “Are you all right?”

  Cade smiled. It was a chilling and predatory thing. “You’re going to earn your half of the money, Doctor. No. Scratch that. If this works, I’ll give you all the money. Are you interested?”

  “What do I have to do?” Halifax asked suspiciously.

  “First, we’re going to trick the local Group Six.”
>
  Halifax groaned. “No, Cade, I can’t help you do that. I’m done hurting the Director’s people.”

  “Fine,” Cade said with a shrug. “Then I’m going to kill you.” He stood, drawing his knife from a boot top.”

  “On second thought,” Halifax said, as he leaned back. “I’m in it deep already. Why not finish it and get out with all the loot, vanishing to faraway regions afterward.”

  “Good thinking,” Cade said, as he sheathed the blade. He went to a side-stand, took a hotel notepad and pen, and went and sat at the hotel table. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to achieve the first step.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  As Cade watched, Halifax made a call, speaking in an urgent voice to the person on the other end. Halifax spoke fast and persuasively, and his reasoning was meticulous.

  “Yes, yes. That’s right,” Halifax said into the receiver. “He’s suspicious, but this will lull him. The idiot has been holding back for months. Last night—the ogre wants to party, get drunker than snot and bang as many whores as he’s able. He thinks he’s a damn superman and figures an orgy is the way to prove it.”

  Halifax listened.

  Cade could hear evil laughter coming out of the phone.

  “That’s right,” Halifax said with glee. “The Slutty Nymph. Where is it? Yeah, I got that. It sounds like the perfect place. And if there’s any screaming, no one should notice. Right, right. I’ll do exactly that. Tonight, on D Level. Until then.”

  Halifax hung up, facing Cade. “It’s all set.”

  Cade scanned the hotel room, seeing if there anything he was missing. He’d packed everything. “Let’s go.”

  “Uh, Cade,” Halifax said, hanging back.

  Cade stopped, staring at the man.

  “This is the last time we should do something like this,” Halifax said.

  “You were going to say something else.”

  “I was,” Halifax admitted. “But I don’t think you’d care. Are you sure this is wise?”

  “As you said, Director Titus is a hard man.”

  “How will this help us with him?”

  “You’ll find out,” Cade said.

  “Maybe you could tell me a little more. I’m not seeing what you’re thinking.”

  Cade smiled grimly. It was a good thing Halifax didn’t see it because he knew the man would balk if he knew where this would take them. Halifax liked sly plans, but he didn’t like any hint of danger to himself. Cade’s plan ultimately entailed horrific danger, perhaps the worst either of them had faced so far. Well, entering the Digger tunnel had been up there. Cade still couldn’t believe he’d agreed to it at the time.

  “You okay, Cade? You seem—” Halifax shivered with fright.

  “I’m motivated. Do you understand motivated, Doctor?”

  “We don’t have a ship to run to this time after we shoot up the place.”

  “But we do.”

  Halifax frowned. “Cade,” he said in a whiny voice. “I’d wish you’d tell me more.”

  Cade motioned with his head. “Let’s go. It’s time. Dithering isn’t going to win us the ball. Now, we blitz the opposition.”

  ***

  The Group Six headquarters on Hyperion Blue was near the D Level hangar bay. It was the “industrial” area of the space habitat, where many manual laborers did the grunt work assembling delicate machinery: work too fine for robot hands.

  There were four shifts so the various assembly areas were always in operation. That meant constant flows of pedestrians with various color cops checking cards for the correct shift workers. There were bars to cater to the thirsty, eateries for the hungry and various entertainments for the bored or those too high-strung to just go home.

  The Group Six building fronted as a bar and casino. The rooms in back contained the offices, the torture center and the high-tech operations.

  “They know what we look like,” Halifax complained. “These disguises won’t work.”

  The doctor wore a long blond wig with a hat. Cade had purchased extra padding and a heavy coat, giving him an obese look. He waddled to add to the image and wore thick black glasses, squinting at things as if he could barely see.

  “They’re not dumb,” Halifax said.

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “I don’t know about this, Cade.”

  Cade glanced at his fellow conspirator. “Use my name again and I’ll break your neck,” he whispered.

  Halifax stopped outside the front door of the casino, speaking softly. “What if I just started shouting?”

  “I’ll kill you and do this on my own.”

  “Pull out your cannon and just start firing, huh?”

  “No. First, I’ll break your neck.” Cade held out his hands, the thick fingers twitching. “You’ll feel it for a time, whimpering and realizing you’re dying as you’re lying on the sidewalk, paralyzed.”

  Halifax shuddered. “I don’t have the nerve for this anymore. I keep thinking about…”

  Cade squinted at Halifax with deadly promise.

  “About him,” Halifax said.

  “Don’t worry about your old boss. Ultimately, my plan will make him happy.”

  Halifax tilted his head to look up at Cade. “How could that be?”

  “It just is,” Cade said, pushing the doctor toward the door. “It’s show time. No more stalling.”

  Halifax quit arguing as he reached for the door handle.

  Cade followed, and the two entered the casino, going to the slot machines near the back. Cade fed a credit note into a bank machine that poured colored tokens out at the bottom. Each took half and went to a chosen slot machine, feeding it tokens and pressing the play button, watching the machine bleep and blink as it spun and “laid out” digital cards.

  Over the span of thirty minutes, Halifax won fifteen hundred CUCNs in colored tokens, while Cade lost more than twice that amount.

  “Get ready,” Cade whispered.

  A tall, self-absorbed man headed for a back door that no one had used so far. From previous intelligence, Halifax had “marked” the door as leading to the interior G6 offices. Surprisingly, the door lacked a human guard.

  The tall man heading there didn’t bother glancing around. He was definitely preoccupied. He pulled out a card, slid it through a slot and opened the door. He didn’t turn around to check, but headed into the hall.

  Cade had moved silently and quickly from his slot machine. He grabbed the door before it closed, sliding through. Halifax was behind Cade and let the door close. Cade increased his pace, raised his gun and struck the back of the man’s head with the butt. The agent collapsed but did not hit the carpeted floor, as Cade caught him and gently set the man down.

  “You killed him,” Halifax whispered in horror.

  It might have been true, Cade didn’t know. He hadn’t intended to kill the man. Maybe he’d struck too hard because he was wound up. He wanted to check the man’s pulse. But what difference would it make now? If the man were dead, checking the pulse wouldn’t bring him back to life. If the man were alive, Cade would have wasted time.

  So, Cade reached back and grabbed Halifax, swinging him to the front and propelling him down the corridor. Halifax caught his balance and began to trot, reaching the last door in the hall, pushing it open.

  Inside, two uniformed men sat at consoles. They weren’t watching their screens, but debating each other in a prissy way. They must have noticed the opening door, turned around—they blanched as Cade aimed his gun at them.

  The nearer operator regained his nerve first. “If you’re from—”

  “Shut up,” Cade said.

  “No,” the nearer operator said. “If you think you can—”

  Cade rushed him, using the butt of the gun against the speaker’s face, sending the man flying backward, unconscious or dead on the floor.

  “You want to say something?” Cade asked, as he shoved the barrel of the gun in the other man’s face.

  The man shoo
k his head as he went white.

  “Good,” Cade said. “Now listen, and maybe you’ll get to go home in one piece when your shift is over.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  An hour later, after shedding the extra padding and heavy coat, Cade wore worker’s garb as he pushed an anti-grav sled down a utility corridor. Halifax walked to the side, using a stylus to tap a computer slate. He looked up.

  “Is it set?” asked Cade.

  “It is. I still don’t think it’s a good idea, though. What if they die because of this?”

  “Then they die.”

  “If the Director ever learns about that—”

  “The Director won’t care even if he does learn,” Cade said, cutting in. “He’ll be too happy with the results I’m bringing him.”

  “You’re spouting words. That doesn’t make it so.”

  Cade didn’t bother to reply again. Halifax was clearly terrified.

  On the anti-grav sled were two huge coffin-sized cryogenic units, one on top of the other. Each of the cyro units contained a man taken from the Group Six headquarters. One of the two was big like Cade, although more fat than muscle. The other resembled Halifax to a degree. On the manifest that the doctor had just signed, these two were officially named as Marcus Cade and Dr. Halifax. They were bound for a tramp hauler on its way to the 16 Cygni System, a system a mere 69 light-years from Earth.

  The cyro units would enter tramp-hauler cargo and the two men arrive there in deep hibernation.

  The point of this was the tramp-hauler’s manifest list. If cyborg agents such as Rohan Mars came here and gained hold of the list, they would know, or seemingly know, that Cade and Halifax were on their way to the 16 Cygni System.

  Halifax had complained about using cyro units. People often died during extended trips while in deep hibernation. And why would the cyborgs believe these two were Cade and Halifax? Furthermore, why would the cyborgs think Cade and Halifax would take such a risk?

  “Because maybe we’re desperate enough to believe we could sneak there like that,” Cade had said.

  “Dubious logic at best.”